Coca-Cola Starlight is a limited-edition variant of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...

. Introduced in 2022 as the first in the Coca-Cola Creations line, it was produced and distributed by

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup ...

and its bottlers. The beverage features a red color and a unique taste "inspired by space". In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where it was a Zero Sugar variant, it was known as Coca-Cola Intergalactic. In

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, it was also known as Coca-Cola Stardust. In

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, it was also known as Coca-Cola Starshine.

History

The Coca-Cola Company announced the release of Coca-Cola Starlight on February 17, 2022. In a press statement, the company revealed the beverage has a "reddish hue" and that "Its taste includes additional notes reminiscent of stargazing around a campfire, as well as a cooling sensation that evokes the feeling of a cold journey to space." Oana Vlad, senior director for global brand strategy at the company, stated that the drink was inspired by Coca-Cola's partnership with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

. Coca-Cola Starlight was launched alongside Coca-Cola Creations, an innovation platform of The Coca-Cola Company focused on selling limited-edition flavors of Coca-Cola. It landed in North American stores on February 21, 2022, and is also sold in

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company. In some countries, it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar. The drink was introduced in 2005 as Coca-Cola Zero as a new no-calorie cola. In 2017, the formula was modified and the n ...

format. It was discontinued on August 1, 2022 and succeeded by Coca-Cola Dreamworld later that month.

Flavor

Prior to the release of Coca-Cola Starlight, there were speculations as to its flavor. Among them were raspberry (originating from a 2009 study that the center of the galaxy may taste like raspberries) and

s'mores A s'more is a campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada, consisting of one or more toasted marshmallows and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. Etymology and origins ''S'more'' is a contracti ...

. Many have described the taste as similar to that of fruit, vanilla or

cotton candy Cotton candy, also known as fairy floss and candy floss, is a spun sugar confection that resembles cotton. It usually contains small amounts of flavoring or food coloring. It is made by heating and liquefying sugar, and spinning it centri ...

. Junk food review site ''Candy Hunting'' stated it "tastes like strawberry, marshmallow, and/or cotton candy". Aly Walansky of

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

wrote it tastes "kind of like minty cotton candy sprinkled with vanilla".

References

{{Coca-Cola brands Coca-Cola brands Food and drink introduced in 2022